The High Court here has dismissed the government’s application to suspend the payment of RM1.1 million to the family of late teenage Dutch model Ivana Smit.
Justice Roz Mawar Rozain ordered the government to deposit the sum, together with accrued interest, in a trust account by today.
The judge also ordered the government to pay the family RM8,000 in costs.
In July, the court held the government and police liable for failing to conduct a proper investigation into Smit’s death.
The court ordered the government to pay RM500,000 as general damages and an additional RM600,000 as aggravated and exemplary damages.
The government sought to suspend the execution of judgment pending an appeal from that decision to the Court of Appeal.
Smit, who was 18, was found dead on the sixth floor of CapSquare Residence on Dec 7, 2017, after falling from a unit on the 20th floor.
An inquest held in 2018 determined her death to be a “misadventure”.
Upon revision by the High Court, Smit’s death was said to be caused by “persons known or unknown”.
Lawyer SN Nair appeared for Smit’s family while senior federal counsel Siti Aishah Ramlan represented the government.
